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    The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum Summary

    The Poisoner's Handbook
    Deborah Blum
    ScienceHistorySociety
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    Overview of The Poisoner's Handbook

    Before CSI, two scientists revolutionized murder investigations in Jazz Age New York. This NYT bestseller, adapted into an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, reveals how chemistry caught killers when poison was the perfect murder weapon. True crime meets scientific breakthrough.

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    In early 20th century New York City, poison was the perfect murder weapon. With no scientific oversight, killers using arsenic, cyanide, or chloroform operated with virtual impunity. Death certificates listed vague causes like "visitation by God" or simply "stopped breathing." The coroner system was a political patronage machine where appointments went to loyal party supporters rather than qualified professionals. Coroners like Patrick Riordan routinely appeared drunk at crime scenes and sold falsified death certificates for $5-20 each. The system's spectacular failure was illustrated by the case of Frederic Mors, who confessed to murdering eight elderly people with chloroform but escaped charges because coroners incorrectly claimed the poison couldn't be detected in exhumed bodies. This changed in 1918 when Charles Norris became New York's first scientifically trained medical examiner. Despite constant political interference and budget battles, Norris recruited Alexander Gettler, a brilliant chemist and son of Hungarian immigrants, as his toxicologist. Together, they built America's first modern forensic laboratory, determined to use science to speak for the dead when no one else could.

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    Prohibition's Deadly Cocktail: Government-Sanctioned Poisoning

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    The Chemistry of Murder: Poisons as Criminal Weapons

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